In his victory speech, Scott , who ran on an anti-establishment message and drew the support of the Tea Party, pledged to "work for every Floridian."

"Today is the end of politics as usual," he said about an hour after Sink said she couldn't see a path to victory. "We're going to work for the common good."

Earlier, Scott's campaign had called a win by Sink "a mathematical impossibility," after the campaign's numbers showed Scott with a lead of more than 68,000 votes.

Scott has 49 percent of the vote to Sink's 48 percent of the vote -- a lead of about 53,000 votes -- with 99 percent of the vote counted.

Scott will replace Gov. Charlie Crist, who opted against seeking a second term to run for the U.S. Senate, a bid that he lost Tuesday to Republican Marco Rubio. Scott will be sworn in Jan. 4.

Scott, 57, is a multimillionaire who jumped into the Republican primary race in April. Sink is the state's chief financial officer. She worked for 26 years in the banking business, eventually becoming one of the state's most prominent businesswomen.